CP of Israel celebrates 75th anniversary

By Hans Lebrecht, in Workers Weekly World,14 January, 1995

TEL-AVIV -- Israeli Communists have been celebrating the 75th
anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of Israel
(CPI) in recent months at festive meetings throughout the
country. The main celebration took place on Dec. 22 in the large
assembly hall of the Friendship building in Nazareth.

Party members, among them many veteran leading figures and
rank-and-file members, sympathizers and friends, Young Communist
League members and Young Pioneers, as well as invited guests,
filled the hall to capacity. The room wasfestooned with red
flags, slogan banners and flowers.

The wall behind the presidium was decorated with the symbol of
the anniversarysided by the main slogans: "For strengthening and
continuing the path of the Communist Party of Israel" and "For
increased struggle for true and just peace-- for equal rights,
democracy and defense of the workers' rights."

Among those seated at the presidium were CPI General Secretary
Muhammad Nafa'a, Palestinian People's Party Politburo member Fuad
Reizik and Minister of Scientific Planning of the Palestinian
National Authority (PNA) and Chief Delegate at the Peace
Negotiations, Dr. Nabil Sha'ath.

Former CPI General Secretary Meir Vilner opened the meeting and
gave an historical overview of the heroic struggles of the CPI
(prior to 1948 known asthe Palestinian Communist Party). He
recalled the long years of common Arab-Jewish struggle against
British colonial rule.

Vilner said that from 1947 the CPI was the foremost force in the
country in support of the United Nations' resolution which called
for the partitioning ofPalestine between a Jewish state and an
Arab-Palestinian state. Non-compliancewith this principled
two-state resolution was at the roots of the long and bloody wars
and Arab-Jewish strife.

Vilner added, "Now the Party, in common with other progressive
peace forces, are called upon not to be satisfied with the
present situation, but to fight for full implementation of the
interim accord with the PLO and for speedy negotiations towards
the permanent status of just and lasting peace with the
Palestinian State to-be."

Vilner stressed that the CPI's source of strength emanates from
its firm commitment to the ideology of Marxism-Leninism and the
internationalist Jewish-Arab fraternity in its ranks.

General Secretary Nafa'a sharply censored the Israeli government
for the many and major obstacles it is continuing to put in the
way of the peace process. Nafa'a pointed out Israel's not
complying with the so-called "redeployment" ofthe occupation
forces, agreed upon in Oslo, according to which the occupation
forces should have withdrawn from the towns and other Palestinian
population centers in the West Bank not later than July 1994.

Further, Nafa'a said the government has caved in to the
right-wing opposition and the right-radical elements among the
Jewish colonialist settlers. It has allowed new settlements to be
established on expropriated Palestinian land.

Nafa'a called upon all peace forces in Israel to struggle in
common in order to put an end to this anti-peace policy, and to
force the government to proceed on the way promised by it, and
started to follow with the first-ever accord with the
Palestinians. The Israeli Communists, Arab as well as Jew, will
do all in their power to bring to a speedy and positive end to
the ongoing mutual bloodshed by demanding to proceed now, without
further delay, towards a permanent Israeli-Palestinian peace
solution, based on the Security Council resolutions and the
vested national rights of the Palestinians as wellas of Israel.